It's All His Fault
by SilverLily aka Blood Moon
Summary: It was all his fault. It didn't matter it was the Doumeki of another world that left Watanuki with this mess, the big jerk still screwed everything up in the first place. Doumeki had no way to explain the actions of another man that bore his name. 104
1. Chapter 1

_It was all Doumeki's fault. To Watanuki it didn't matter if it wasn't the Doumeki of this world that left him with this mess, it was still the big jerk that screwed everything up in the first place. Doumeki had no way to explain the actions of another man that bore his name. _

Steam billowed up into the evening air as Watanuki prepared a late dinner for his employer. Pots bubbled on the stove top as a cake continued to bake in the oven. He grumbled as he pulled down a large serving plate from one of the cabinets and started to remove the now cooked gyoza from the pan. Yuuko normally let him leave early during the week so he could have time to work on his homework, but come Friday afternoon it was an all night drinking fest with Mokona and, sometimes if his luck really ran out that week, Doumeki too. Of course, Yuuko and Mokona would need _extra_ snacks to go along with their drinking so as to avoid an even bigger hangover the following morning.

Watanuki secretly hoped Yuuko's head would someday explode from the headache. While he might have to clean up the blood it would also mean Yuuko would no longer have a mouth in which to shove all of the food and alcohol she owned down her throat in one night.

At least tonight Doumeki was not over for dinner, though with the full moon Yuuko would likely call him to walk Watanuki home. The moon viewing party would go late into the night and it would be foolish for Watanuki to try to go home alone with all of the spirits that were crawling around outside the walls of the shop.

"Watanuuuuuki~!" The dimensional witch called from the veranda. "Where's our dinner?"

"We need food!" Mokona yelled in agreement.

"Do you _want_ to eat it raw?" He asked incredulously. "It's still cooking!"

"Hurry!" Yuuko despaired over her nearly empty glass of wine. "Your generous employer is wasting away!"

"Wasting away! All away!" Maru and Moro chanted by the door. "Mistress is wasting away!" The strange girls clasped hands and twirled in place while they giggled.

Watanuki sighed in exasperation as he pulled the cake out of the oven and set it on the granite counter to let it cool. "Five more minutes!" That infuriating woman had _no patience!_

True to his word after five more minutes of teasing and yelling the teenager carefully balanced a full serving tray on his arm and two bottles of alcohol in hand and made his way outside.

Yuuko clapped her hands in glee as the food was presented before her and her glass was refilled. "Oooh! Watanuki is such a hard worker!" She deftly picked up her pair of chopsticks and swallowed a dumpling whole. The teenager didn't even think she bothered to chew it. "Yum!"

"Where's dessert?" Mokona demanded.

"It's still cooling!" Watanuki stomped his foot. "The frosting will melt into a disgusting mess if I put it on too soon!"

"Watanuki, do sit down and eat something. This _is_ a moon viewing party, after all! Enjoy yourself!" Yuuko instructed as she happily bit down on a piece of fish.

The boy tucked the now empty tray under his arm and sat down stiffly. "I'll enjoy myself when I can go home and rest." He grabbed a set of chopsticks and chewed on a sushi roll, too tired to really taste it.

Yuuko paused, her wine glass halfway up to her full red lips, and stared at something in the distance. If someone had asked, Watanuki would have said it felt like something had _shifted_, like the area they occupied experienced a sudden change in air pressure.

"We have a customer."

"What?" Watanuki asked in surprise and dropped his food.

The witch stood up from the table, her eyes not leaving the spot she was staring at. Maru and Moro rushed up to her and straightened her loose kimono to be more presentable. "Come," Yuuko's dark red eyes smoldered. "We must greet our guest properly."

Watanuki scrambled to his feet and untied the apron from around his waist. "Yuuko-san, how do you-"

The picture of the full moon above stretched and simmered like melting cream. Watanuki watched with wide eyes as the sky pulled itself around and around and dropped to the ground in front of them like a drop of rain. He remembered what it looked like when a customer came to Yuuko's shop from another world. He wondered if this person would have to travel just like Syaoran and his group to pay for the price of the wish.

Night sky colors peeled away and finally revealed the person that was left behind. A man was kneeling on the ground, two small children asleep in his arms. Blood ran down in a steady stream from his head, down his cheek and dripped off his jaw. Some of the red stream slipped down his neck and disappeared in his black armor.

Watanuki found himself shocked and utterly flabbergasted. "D-Doumeki?"

The man panted heavily and looked around him, taking stock of his new environment. He certainly _looked_ like Doumeki. Sharp yellow eyes were narrowed in a strong face, forehead relaxed and black hair askew. This man looked older than the Doumeki that Watanuki last remembered seeing. There were dark gray areas under the man's eyes and his mouth was creased with age lines.

"Yes," the man panted. He was injured by the looks of things. His arms tightened around the toddlers sleeping in his arms. "I am Doumeki Shizuka. I was... expected then?

"You have a wish," Yuuko said, because whenever Yuuko said this phrase it was never a question.

Watanuki could only gape at the scene before him. This was not the Doumeki he knew.

"Yes, I have a wish." He looked at the children in his arms. A boy and a girl that looked no older than four.

"What is your wish, Doumeki Shizuka?"

"My children," he said, his voice cracking. "I wish for my children to live."

There was a long pause as Yuuko stared at him, measuring his ability to pay the fee. "The price for this wish is very, very high." Yuuko's face was more serious than Watanuki ever remembered seeing. There was not even a hint of a smile, which was her usual countenance.

"I will pay it," the man said firmly. "Please, let them live. They will die in my world. I cannot... I cannot keep them safe anymore," he admitted, a brief flash of shame crossing his face.

"No," Yuuko agreed. "After tonight, you will not be able to."

"What? Yuuko-san..." Watanuki tried to wrestle with his words but every attempt ended in distraught disbelief.

"I will pay the price," the other, older Doumeki repeated.

"The price," Yuuko said softly. Her lips thinned. "For your children to live, you may never see them again. When they die, their spirits will remain in this world, and they will be reincarnated in this world. You and your wife may never, ever again see them or speak to them, in this life or any of the ones to follow."

Bright yellow eyes widened. That was a high price. Still, though, they were his children and they deserved to live. "Very well. I... accept the price." His body shuddered, but whether it was from exhaustion or grief Watanuki couldn't tell.

"Watanuki, please collect the children," Yuuko bade.

The teenager stepped off of the veranda in stunned silence. He could hardly believe it. Hardly! Why was this other Doumeki doing such a terrible thing, leaving his children without their parents! He knelt down next to the panting man and held out his arms.

Doumeki Shizuka looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Watanuki," he said quietly. "That was my wife's maiden name."

"Y-your _wife?_" Watanuki squeaked.

"Watanuki Kimihiro." Doumeki looked at his daughter. "It took me eight years to get her to accept my name."

"Are you saying I was born a _girl_ in your world?" The teenager demanded, clearly distraught over such a wild idea. His mind was cleanly ignoring the horrifying statement that this girl version had _married_ dumb Doumeki and even had_ children_ with him! Certainly it must have been the awful female hormones that were to blame.

The man shrugged. It was a very Doumeki-like response. "This is my son, Haruka." He handed over the sleeping child, his eyes dark and hooded. "And my daughter, Kimiko." Watanuki tucked the girl into his other arm and adjusted himself. The small kids were actually kind of heavy. Doumeki ran a hand down his daughter's head. "Haruka is four, Kimiko is two years and eight months old. Please take care of them."

"Why are you leaving them here?" Watanuki asked panicked. "Where is their mother?"

Doumeki sat back on his heels and clutched an arm to his chest. Blood glistened in the moonlight on his black armor. "Dead. Murdered."

The color drained from Watanuki's face. He stood up shakily and stumbled back to the shop's porch.

"You need to get home," Yuuko pointed out. "The price is your bow."

Doumeki winced and stood up on unsteady feet. "That's fine. I won't need it anymore." He carefully removed the large hunter's bow from his back and handed it to Maru and Moro as they padded up to him.

"What, wait!" Watanuki yelled. "You're wounded! You need bandages!"

Doumeki smiled at him. _Smiled_, which was jarring to see because the Doumeki that Watanuki knew didn't ever smile. "It's not necessary." The man drew his sword and nodded to Yuuko, ready to go home. He looked up at the full moon above them, his expression resigned to a terrible fate. Yuuko's seal lit up beneath him to transport him home.

"Good luck," Yuuko offered.

Doumeki Shizuka closed his eyes and tightened the grip on his sword. Faintly Watanuki heard the man say to himself '_Wait for me Kimihiro, I'm coming.'_

It was such a horrible, final statement, that Watanuki finally realized what would happen to the other man. Doumeki Shizuka was going home to die.

It felt like his heart shrank into a ball of lead and landed in his stomach. He felt suddenly very ill thinking about that man's fate. Even Doumeki didn't deserve such an end.

The shop's yard cleared and was suddenly empty. Watanuki blinked and looked at the place the other Doumeki once occupied. The children in his arms were heavy and warm. "What now, Yuuko-san?"

. . . . . . . . . .

Doumeki Shizuka yawned behind his hand as he walked down the sidewalk to the invisible shop. Yuuko had called him in a fit of giggles and said he needed to come and pick Watanuki up to see him safely home. There was something _very important_ that he needed to help Watanuki with and it had to be tonight.

Hearing Watanuki screeching like a mad man in the background confirmed it was something rather unpleasant to Doumeki. Usually Watanuki put up much more of a fuss if it was a mission versus a simple walk home.

The shop was lit up like a Christmas tree. Nearly every available lantern and candle was lit. Gold colored light spilled from the window and washed the veranda in an amber colored glow. He was rather glad he could see the shop now and enter it, even if it meant there was something in the shop he needed. Doumeki had not pondered what that thing was yet but suspected it had a great deal to do with his fellow classmate.

Mokona bounced up to him as he made his way up the walkway to the door. "Doumeki's here! Doumeki's here! Welcome back, pops!"

"Pops?" Doumeki raised a single eyebrow up in question. Where had that name come from?

"_You!_"

Doumeki paused as a furious Watanuki blocked the doorway and pointed a finger at him in accusation. "This is _all your fault!_"

"What?"

"Doumeki-kun!" Yuuko cheered from behind the angry teenager. "Daddy's home!"

"Daddy's home! Daddy's home! Daddy worked all day and brought home bacon!" Maru and Moro sang in delight.

"No, _no __**no!**_" Watanuki shrieked. "This is not happening!"

Doumeki plugged one of his ears as the flailing teenager continued to screech. "What happened?"

"Dadda!"

Something small and clumsy shoved passed Watanuki's legs and trotted up to him. Doumeki looked down at a little boy with a messy head of black hair. Small yellow eyes stared up at him and chubby little hands gestured at him, begging to be picked up. "Dadda!" The boy cried again.

Doumeki decided to humor the child and pick him up. The little boy squealed with delight and wrapped small little arms around him and clutched his shirt in tiny little fists. "Yuuko-san?"

"Congratulations!" Yuuko beamed. "You've just become a father of two!"

"Momma! Momma! Momma!" Another small voice called next to Watanuki's legs.

The boy looked ready to explode. His face was red like a sunburn. "I keep telling you, _I'm not momma!"_

The little girl's lips trembled and she held her hands up high, ready to be picked up. "Momma," she cried again.

Watanuki sighed and picked the child up.

"Watanuki-kun, I keep telling you they're too young to really know the difference between genders. Of _course_ you're still 'momma.'"

"Don't encourage them," Watanuki growled.

"What's going on?" Doumeki asked again.

"_I'll_ tell you what's going on," Watanuki groused. "Some Doumeki Shizuka from a _different _world had to go and make an idiot decision to die so he left his children here so they could live. _Why_ do you have to be a moron in every dimension?"

"... Say that again?" There was no way Doumeki heard that correctly.

"You heard me, you big lumbering oaf! You left your children here for us to take care of!"

"I didn't leave any children here. I'm certain I've never even had sex."

Yuuko giggled girlishly and Watanuki blushed right to his ears. "Maybe _you_ didn't, but another you did!"

These multiple dimensions and multiple versions of himself made very little sense to Doumeki. "Where is their mother?"

The little girl pulled at Watanuki's collar and gurgled happily. "Dead," Watanuki looked away. "The other Doumeki said she was murdered."

Murdered. Doumeki felt his stomach lurch. That was awful.

"Doumeki-san's world is currently having a witch hunt for any people that can see spirits. There has been a lot of deaths recently. Doumeki Kimihiro was the strongest Seer of their time and her husband did the best he could to hide her and their children. Eventually, they could run no further," Yuuko supplied. It was surprisingly descriptive and helpful, which was unusual for the witch.

Doumeki's mind got stuck on the name. "Doumeki Kimihiro," he repeated.

Yuuko giggled. "Doumeki-san's wife, of course! It looks like Himawari-chan is right when she says you two are _such good friends_!"

"Never!" Watanuki defended himself. "Never in a million years! I would never like that _idiot_ it that way!"

As Watanuki continued to rage Doumeki managed to gather everything that had happened in his head. "What will happen to the children?"

"That is up to you," Yuuko said slyly. "You can send them to the orphanage, or find a foster home for them, or-"

"Never!" Watanuki repeated his earlier statement. "I don't care if the dumb ass is their father, they are still _my_ kids! I will not send them to the orphanage!"

Doumeki's head reeled. "We're still in school," he said aloud. "How do you plan on taking care of kids while you're in school?"

"I..." Watanuki struggled to find an answer. He really didn't know how he was going to take care of them. He didn't have a lot of extra money and it would be very difficult to get a job that paid actual money when he had to worry about spirits all the time interrupting work. He probably wouldn't even be able to go to college, now that he thought about it. "I'll..."

Doumeki walked up to him and looked at him. The boy really was an idiot.

But still... he looked at the children. A boy and a girl. They were so small. "What are their names?"

"...The boy is Haruka," Watanuki whispered, "and he's four. The girl is Kimiko, and she's two years and eight months."

Haruka was already asleep in Doumeki's arms. "She looks like you," Doumeki commented.

Watanuki puffed his cheeks and blushed. "I'm not a girl."

"... Idiot."

"Well!" Yuuko clapped her hands and interrupted Watanuki's outrage. "You two certainly have a lot to talk about! I'll let you go home and work things out!"

"..._What!" _Watanuki shrieked.


	2. Chapter 2

_Watanuki looked at Yuuko, two children in his arms fast asleep. "What now, Yuuko-san?" _

_The witch looked away from the empty yard and turned her red eyed gaze to him, her expression solemn. "Doumeki-san's children will need a place to live. I would suggest the local orphanage. They will need paper work and birth certificates in order to live here successfully."_

_Watanuki's brain stopped dead at the word _orphanage_ and barely registered the rest of her statement. Memories flashed behind his eyes of a terrifying time as a six year old, alone and abandoned and lost in the world of adults that were nothing more than strangers that promised to help him yet never returned. He knew the burden of growing up alone and he could not, in any way, allow such a life for these two kids. _

_Besides, they were still his children in some strange way and the thought of children that were his, even his from another world, lost and alone after being left behind by him made him sick to his stomach. "I can't, oh Yuuko-san I can't do that to them! You don't know what it's like in the orphanages here! It's awful!" _

_Yuuko sat back down at the table on the veranda and picked at her food. "I did not grant a wish for how they would live, Watanuki-kun, merely that they _would_ live." _

_The teenager staggered over to her with heavy weights bearing down on his arms. He set the sleeping children aside next to him and wondered briefly why they were asleep still after so much activity. "We can't just abandon them, though!" _

_Yuuko emptied her glass of wine. "My shop is no place for children, even good children like yours."_

_Watanuki blushed at the mention of his newly acquired parenthood. "You can't expect me to just let them go!"_

"_Of course not," Mokona agreed. The black creature bounced back up on the table. "That's just not like Watanuki to do that. Still can't stay here, though!"_

_The teen spluttered at his unresponsive boss. "Can't you help at least?"_

"_Can you really afford another wish like that?" Yuuko asked slyly. "You're already indebted to me for another decade, at least!"_

_He sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair, his fingers pulling at the ends just a bit in frustration. Kids were expensive and if he had to stay working here for so long he'd never be able to make any real money. _

_Yuuko took another bite of her cold dinner while Mokona stuffed a full plate of dumplings down its mouth. Just as Watanuki opened his mouth with another question they heard a sharp small cry of "Momma!"_

_Watanuki jerked around and looked at the kids that were sleeping. The little girl was just waking up and looking around herself. Her eyes were wide open and she looked terrified. He scooted closer to her and extended his arms, hoping to calm her down. "Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of."_

_The girl looked up at him with the biggest blue eyes he'd ever seen in another person. The color of her irises were the very same as his. "Momma!" The girl cried happily. She giggled and made her way over to him, happy to snuggle in his arms. _

"_Momma," Yuuko mused with a grin. "My, it's rather fitting, don't you think Mokona?" _

"_What?" Watanuki demanded. "I'm not 'Momma.'" _

"_Watanuki is an excellent housewife," Mokona agreed with Yuuko, completely ignoring him. "He cooks and cleans and makes tasty desserts!" _

"_What does _any_ of that have to do with being a housewife?" Watanuki complained. "I am not a girl!"_

"_You were in a different world," Yuuko smiled and wiggled one of her fingers at him. "And in love with Doumeki to boot!" _

"_I refuse to believe that nonsense!" He declared. "Clearly something fishy was happening over there, that's for certain!"_

_There was a scraping noise at the other end of the table. Watanuki moved to look but he was not as fast as Yuuko's reflexes as she snatched away a bottle of sake from chubby hands. "Oooh, that's not for kiddies!" Yuuko admonished. _

_The boy looked up at her with a pout. "Thirsty," he said and pointed to his lips. _

"_Thirsy!" Kimiko echoed and tried to reach for another bottle of alcohol that was in easy reaching distance. _

_Yuuko grabbed up three of the bottles and promptly downed them. Mokona helped and drank up four more. _

"_Why is there so much booze out here anyway?" Watanuki asked. "Must you try to get so drunk every Friday night?"_

_Yuuko giggled as the alcohol started to swim to her head. "Watanuki-kun doesn't appreciate fine liqueur yet. What a shame!"_

"_Thirsty!" The child Haruka proclaimed again. "Momma, thirsty!"_

_Yuuko laughed again as Watanuki despaired. "Oh, it's just priceless! Wait until Doumeki-kun sees this!"_

… _Oh, wait. Yes, that feeling was definitely familiar. An icy ball of pure and unadulterated _dread _was pooling in his stomach. Watanuki hadn't felt anything like that in quite some time. "No... you're not...!" _

_Yuuko was already on her ancient looking spin dial phone and keying in the number to the shrine. She was very drunk by now, too, considering the amount of wine she had before dinner was even brought out. "Doumeki-kuuuun~!" Yuuko sang out. "You need to come over and help Watanuki with something _very important_! It needs to be done tonight!" _

"_Right away!" Mokona cheered as Watanuki raged in the background. _

"_Don't send him over! This will be a disaster!" Watanuki pleaded. "I barely can take what happened, and I was there! That jerk has a brain the size of a cave-man! He is not going to be able to help! How am I supposed to explain this to him?" The teenager demanded. His pleas fell on deaf ears as Yuuko hung up the phone. _

"_Watanuki-kun, isn't there a cake still in the kitchen? And your children are thirsty! Get them something to drink!" The witch ordered._

. . . . . .

Watanuki held a sleeping Kimiko in his arms as he walked down the street with Doumeki. The other teenager was holding the young boy. Haruka's cheek pudged up as it rested against the taller teenager's shoulder. The boy was also fast asleep.

Watanuki could scarcely bare to look at Doumeki. He had no idea what they were doing, but someone had to take the kids home for the night.

"So," Doumeki said awkwardly. He rarely ever said empty words to fill a silence, but Watanuki supposed that of all times for him to start, now was probably a good time.

"So..." Watanuki repeated.

"Yuuko was really drunk tonight."

"Drunk and _crazy_ you mean." He sighed and shifted his arms around the sleeping girl. "I've never seen her tease so much."

"She does that when she's stressed, you know."

He looked up sharply at Doumeki. "What! How would you know that?"

"Whenever a customer has died she gets really drunk afterward and makes fun of you."

The boy frowned as he puzzled over the past couple years in his head. Hm. It seemed Doumeki had a point. "How would you know about it every time?"

Doumeki looked at him with his characteristic 'you're an idiot' look. "Because you complain about it every time."

The teenager sighed. "As soon as the kids woke up and said 'Momma' it all started."

"Hm," Doumeki merely hummed back in reply.

"Doesn't this bother you in the least?" Watanuki demanded. "These kids look like us, for god's sake!"

"The boy is named after my grandfather," Doumeki commented. His eyebrows furrowed marginally. "We should take them to the shrine tonight."

"That is a really bad idea," Watanuki declared. "You have _family_ there, we can't just-!"

"My mom is out of town for the weekend," Doumeki interjected. "We'll have to figure something out by Sunday, though."

"You can't tell me you think they should be sent to an orphanage!"

Doumeki noted the angry look his peer glared at him and the way his arms tightened around the child in his arms. "What else are we supposed to do? Tell my mom we have kids and ask her to raise them?"

"No!" Watanuki growled angrily. "Look, there has to be _something_ we can do! We graduate in three months. Once I'm out of school then I can take care of them."

"And how are you going to get a job while you're still spirit bait?"

"I'm working on that!" Watanuki growled. "Can't you be a little more willing to think of something positive?"

"Well, you will be spending the weekend at my place."

"I said something positive!" Watanuki snapped.

"That is positive. I won't have to cook this weekend."

"Ah! You and your stomach! That's all you ever think about!" He snapped his head forward and stomped ahead. "Lumbering cretin."

"Moron," Doumeki replied.

"I hate you so much!"

"Quiet, you'll wake them up."

"You're the one saying stupid things!"

Doumeki looked ahead and did not say anything else for another block. After a few minutes of silence he was suddenly curious. "So... what did this other me look like?"

"What kind of question is that? He looked like you, moron!" Watanuki chided. "Well... he was older."

"Older?"

"Yeah, a bit. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. He was wearing armor, and had a sword, and was badly wounded."

"Why did he leave?"

"That's what I wanted to know. He could have wished for himself to stay here, too. When I asked Yuuko-san she only said '_He knew without asking the price would be too high. He treasured his children above everything else, and it was all he had to give to pay for their safety.'_"

"...Oh."

"...Yeah."

They were quiet until they reached the shrine.

Sleeping arrangements were like normal whenever Watanuki passed out and Doumeki had to carry him back. The shorter teenager took the bedroom that shared a sliding door with Doumeki and insisted on keeping Kimiko and Haruka in his room, lest they wake up alone and become scared. He did not want a repeat of the fear that had been on the girl's face when she woke up the first time. He was not sure what happened to them just before they came, but it must have been something bad.

Luckily the Doumeki shrine was well stocked with supplies and an extra futon, blankets and pillows were pulled down for the children. Watanuki was still surprised at how much they were sleeping, despite all the yelling he'd done that night. Their father must have done something to ensure they would not wake up and see him leaving.

Sometime around three in the morning Watanuki felt small hands push at his shoulder to make him wake up and the soft calls of "Momma, Momma, wake up Momma."

The teenager rolled over and blinked as he reached for his glasses. He sighed as he looked up at the boy's face. "I'm not 'Momma.'"

"Momma," Haruka said anyway, "I have to go potty." He wiggled his legs in a little dance that indicated he'd been waiting for a while.

Watanuki sighed at the timing but got up and walked with the four year old down the hall to the bathrooms. It was an unfamiliar place so it was no wonder the boy didn't know where to go. Watanuki was grateful he was trained to use the toilet already. He suddenly wondered if Kimiko was, and if not what he was going to do for diapers.

Watanuki opened the door and flipped the light switch on. The shrine was surprisingly progressive with electricity and western styled furniture in the living quarters. They also had excellent heating in the winter and very cool air conditioning in the summer.

It also probably explained the look of concern when Haruka looked at the large western styled toilet that Watanuki pointed to. He must have been expecting something else entirely.

"It's a chair," Haruka protested quietly.

"It has water in it," Watanuki explained. "It's okay, that is what you're supposed to use."

Haruka must have really need to use the restroom because he wriggled out of his pants and managed to pull himself up on the seat without any more protest.

A minute later and the boy climbed off and pulled at the sleeping yukata Watanuki was wearing. "Done, Momma."

"You have to flush, Haruka."

The boy looked at him curiously, so Watanuki walked over and showed him how to push down on the handle. The loud noise of the toilet flushing was loud and the boy, strangely enough, seemed upset by it. He cried out and ran up to Watanuki and wrapped his arms around the teenager's legs as far as they could go. "Bad, that's bad! It's loud, Momma!"

"It's fine," Watanuki assured him. "It won't hurt you."

Haruka shook his head quickly. "Not me, but the bad men!"

Watanuki kneeled down slowly and looked at the boy. His small yellow eyes were wide with alarm. "What bad men?" 

"The _bad _men!" He stressed, as if this explained everything. "Momma said we have to be quiet at night, cause the bad men might hear us!"

Yuuko's explanation of their family running from people looking for those with the ability to see spirits only to kill them surfaced in his memory. Kimiko and Haruka had probably been in hiding with their parents for a long time. Watanuki felt his chest tighten and he pulled the boy in for a hug. "There are no bad men here, Haru-chan. You're safe now."

"But they were looking for you, Momma!"

"They're gone," Watanuki insisted. "You don't have to run anymore. No one does."

The boy's arms clutched at his material. "Did Dadda make them go away?"

To some extent, he had. He removed his children from that environment at least. "Yeah," Watanuki agreed. "He did."


	3. Chapter 3

Doumeki woke up to the sounds of whispering voices. The voices chittered away at each other, consonants slurred so hurriedly he could not understand what he was hearing. He opened his eyes and found two children sitting next to him. Haruka's eyes widened a little when they landed on him and noticed him awake. "Kimoko!" He looked back to his sister. "You weren't quiet! You woke up Dadda!" He made no pretense at being quiet anymore.

"Nuh uh!" The girl said defensively. "Dadda, I didn't wake you!" She turned big blue eyes to him and looked for validation.

Doumeki sat upright on the futon and looked to the shared door between his room and the room Watanuki used the night before. The sliding shogi door was open and the other room was empty. The angle of the sunlight coming in from the windows told him it was likely sometime after nine in the morning. Watanuki was probably cooking breakfast. Strange of him to let Doumeki sleep, though. Whenever he did happen to spend the night he would wake up early the next day and harp on his peer for being lazy.

He looked back to the girl. "It's fine." He stood up and stretched.

"Where's Momma?" Kimiko asked, immediately forgetting about her concern of waking him. She stood up and walked up to him, small hands already tugging at his yukata and asking to be picked up.

"Making breakfast," Doumeki answered without correcting the name. It certainly wasn't worth the effort at the moment.

"Dadda," Kimiko said again and kept tugging. "Pick me up!"

Doumeki bent down and picked the girl up. He looked back to Haruka who was looking at a bird that was sitting on a tree branch through the window. "Coming along?"

The boy turned his head back around and started toward him quickly. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," Doumeki agreed.

Haruka was a little taller than Kimiko and was able to reach up to take Doumeki's spare hand as they made their way to the kitchen.

There was the sound of cutlery being used, slicing away against a wood chopping block as they entered the kitchen. Watanuki was bent over a half cut apple and was meticulously cutting out the center and shaping each piece into a perfect wedge.

Doumeki starred, mouth agape at the spread on the kitchen table as he set Kimiko down. There were pancakes, bacon strips, apples, oranges, muffins, juice and milk and strawberries and even a small bowl of pudding. "Did we have all of this in the kitchen?"

Watanuki spared him a customary glare as he set the rest of the apples pieces on the table. "I ran to the store this morning. I don't know what kids this age are supposed to eat."

Kimiko giggled gleefully as she pulled herself up on a chair and grabbed a strawberry.

"There's so much food!" Haruka agreed as he climbed up and sat down on a chair. He tried reaching for the pancakes with his bare hands, so Watanuki hurried over and dished him up a plate.

Doumeki didn't even bother with a fork. He grabbed four pancakes with his fingers and flopped them on his plate.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki scolded him. "You can't act like a cave-man around them! Use some manners and grab a fork!"

"Hn." He sat down and poured a generous amount of maple syrup on his breakfast.

Kimiko laughed into her cup of juice. "Momma loves Dadda!"

"I'm not 'Momma!'" Came the automatic response.

"Quiet down," Doumeki said. "It's a Saturday, one of our busiest days. Even the patrons outside will hear you."

"Like I care!" Watanuki harrumphed. He sat down and took his own serving of pancakes. He stuffed a big bite in his mouth, as if chewing his breakfast with a vengeance would fix their predicament. "Yuuko-san better not having anything for me to do this weekend. We're in this mess already because of her and I've got to figure out what to do."

The boy swallowed the food in his mouth and looked at Watanuki. "We leaving again, Momma?"

A piece of bacon stopped half way to his mouth. "...What?"

"I don't wanna leave!" Kimiko protested. "I like this house! Dadda!" She turned her gaze to Doumeki. "I don't wanna go! The other houses were bad!"

Something... strange shifted in Doumeki's gut. He had never felt anything like it before. He wasn't sure what it was.

"What are you talking about?" Watanuki asked them. "Leave... again? How many houses have you been at?"

"Yuuko said their parents were being pursued. It must have been for quite a while," Doumeki said.

"Momma," Kimiko started to sob, her small face scrunching up with tears. They had yet to give the kids an actual answer to their question. "I don't wanna go!"

Watanuki bounced up from his seat and plucked Kimiko up and into his arms. "Wait, wait! Don't cry, you're not going anywhere. I promise!"

The tears had already started so it was difficult for the girl to stop. Her chest and back bounced as she hiccuped into the teenager's chest. Watanuki retook his seat and tried to wait for the crying to stop, not really sure what else to do but hold her.

They had a serious problem now. The gravity of the situation finally landed heavily on Doumeki's shoulders. God, what were they going to do? Even he had to admit he would be wracked with guilt should he leave the kids sobbing and abandoned at a shelter._ His_ kids. They really did look like him and Watanuki.

Believing in a universe where Watanuki actually _liked_ him was still harder to fathom than even this.

"Yuuko didn't have any advice for you last night?"

"Not at all," Watanuki moped. "She said it would cost too much to wish for any help."

Doumeki sighed and resisted the urge to rub his forehead. "I'll see what I can do."

Watanuki looked at him, cautiously hopeful.

. . . . . . . . .

The temple grounds emptied a bit around noon for lunch time. There were not any food vendors close by so patrons needed to find somewhere else to eat. It was a bit of a welcome reprieve right in the middle of the day so Doumeki took the opportunity to sweep the walkways.

Watanuki had told him quietly after breakfast while the kids were occupied with the charms and paper fans that were often sold to customers what Haruka had said to him the previous night. For a four year old to worry about pursuers in the middle of the night hearing them and attacking had to be downright traumatizing for a child. Wherever they came from, they were certainly safer here. Doumeki found himself wishing he knew more about the world they came from.

The sweeping seemed to be going well. He was already halfway down the walk before Watanuki appeared at his side with a glass of lemonade. He raised an eyebrow at the nice gesture and took the glass. "Is there sugar in it?"

"You-!" Watanuki fumed. It was so easy to rile him up. "Just shut up and drink it! It's hot out here, so I can't expect a moron like you to remember to keep hydrated!"

That was sweet of him, in the 'sweet like a kick in the teeth' kind of way. It was amazing how good Watanuki was at being nice to him while insulting him all at the same time. He swallowed the beverage, not surprised to find it perfectly sweetened. He handed the empty glass back. "Put more sugar in next time."

"I don't take orders!"

Doumeki looked behind them back to the house, not seeing two little shadows trailing them. Kimiko in particular hadn't stopped following them all morning. "Where are the kids?"

"Playing with one of the shrine maidens by the lake."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow. It just might have been his look of concern, though it was hard for Watanuki to tell since Doumeki had the facial expressions of a rock. "What did you say about them?"

"It was Asano-san that was playing with them. She's one of the nicer ones here. I said they were my cousins visiting for the weekend."

"Hm."

"Any ideas yet on what we should do?"

"It's been three hours since breakfast, give me some time to think about it." He couldn't help but tack on an 'idiot' after that.

"You big-!"

"Shizuka-kun!"

Doumeki and Watanuki turned at the call and saw a girl rushing up to them from the shrine's entrance.

Watanuki narrowed his eyes against the glare of sunlight and tried to identify the person. "Who's that?"

Doumeki grunted. "Hirono An, from school." He looked even more irritated than normal, judging by the crease in his brow.

"Shizuka-kun!" The girl called again. She ran up to them and stopped, panting a little for breath just in front of Doumeki. Her hair was long and brown, though not remarkable at all. The length of hair seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be curly, permed or straight and ruffled and evened out at the oddest of places. She had it up in a pony tail and there were bumps along the top of her hair that made it look like a comb had been stuck in it before it was up all the way. "Shizuka-kun, I brought you lunch! I'm sorry for being a little late."

"I'm sorry, Hirono-san, I've already had lunch."

Watanuki's eyes snapped back to Doumeki, certain he hadn't served the cretin any food yet. While breakfast wasn't really that long ago he was sure he would hear the demand of '_food, make inarizushi' _within the hour.

"Oh," the girl said sadly. She held a wrapped lunch box in her hand and frowned. "Well, keep it for leftovers? You'll need a snack later today, I'm sure of it! I couldn't let my boyfriend go hungry, after all! And I've already told you, you can call me An-chan!" She smiled again.

"We're not dating, Hirono-san," Doumeki said. It sounded like something he repeated often. "Please leave a donation to the temple if you wish at the hokura shrine, or feel free to purchase a charm."

"Shizuka-kun, you're so cruel," An lamented. "But I won't give up on you!"

"He said that you're not dating," Watanuki interjected, suddenly very irritated himself. "Please respect his wishes and leave him alone."

An looked over to him suddenly, as if she hadn't seen him until just that moment. "What?" She studied him a bit, then her eyes narrowed in an unfriendly way. "You're Watanuki from school, right? What are you doing here? Shizuka-kun is in the archery club, and an honor student! There's no way he'd hang out with you!"

Watanuki's hackles rose in anger.

"That's enough," Doumeki said before Watanuki could say anything. He positioned himself in front of Watanuki like some sort of shield. "You need to leave," he said at An.

"But, Shizuka-kun!"

"Stop using his given name!" Watanuki raged. Honestly, she had no right _at all...!_

"Just who are you to tell me what to do?" An yelled back.

"My boyfriend," Doumeki said bluntly. Hopefully Watanuki would be shocked _just_ long enough to stay quiet until she left.

"_What?_" An screeched. Watanuki may have screeched the same thing, but if he had he wasn't quite as loud as An. "No way, you're not...!

Doumeki stood his ground and stared at her, daring her to argue. "I will not tolerate you insulting him." An's face became pale as bleach. "And stop using my given name."

The girl yelled, shocked and angry and confused, and smashed the lunch box on the ground. She turned on her heels and ran out of the shrine, loudly sobbing the whole way.

Watanuki managed to catch his breath. "_What were you thinking?_" He yelled, a peculiar shade of red slowly overtaking his features. "You don't go spewing that kind of stuff to classmates! Oh, my, _god_ what are they all going to say on Monday? Doumeki, you big, stupid- _Argh!_" He clutched his head, seemingly unable to handle the endless pool of stupidity that was Doumeki. "We are_ not_ a couple!"

"I know that," Doumeki said, immediately back to his normal demeanor. "Hirono has been coming to the temple every Saturday for the past month with a lunch for me. She would never listen."

"Why did you have to drag _me_ into this mess? Couldn't you just as well have said you have a girlfriend, like a _normal_ person?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Watanuki was trying to understand Doumeki's thought process and failed spectacularly. "We are not a couple!" He repeated, hoping that would get through his thick skull.

Doumeki shrugged. "We were in another world. Besides, you think there will be time for girlfriends with Haruka and Kimiko here now?"

The gears in Watanuki's head finally began to turn. Why, oh why did he not think of this sooner. "Oh, what's Himawari-chan going to think?" This was probably the most horrifying thought of all.

Doumeki went back to sweeping, "Idiot."

"You're the bigger idiot, jerk!"

And now there was a mess of food on the walk that needed to be cleaned. Watanuki huffed angrily and headed back to the kitchen to grab pan and a garbage sack. This was officially the worst weekend of his life.


	4. Chapter 4

The afternoon grew hot and humid late Saturday. Everyone migrated indoors to cool down and get out of the sun. Watanuki had been in the middle of working on his overdue homework at a small table in the sitting room when Kimiko decided she wanted to crawl into his lap and take a nap. She was small enough to lay there on him without blocking his ability to write in his notebook but after a little while the weight of her started to cut off the circulation in his legs. The teenager sighed, unwilling to wake the child up but unable to sit in that position any longer. He dropped his pencil and leaned back, straightening one leg carefully, then the other. Kimiko's head fell to one side as he moved but the girl did not waken. Watanuki lifted her in his arms and leaned against the wall, her head now resting against his chest. He could feel her little heart beat steadily against his own.

Sunlight poured in through the window. Everything felt a bit hazy as the dust was lit up and swirled lazily in the air. The sheer curtains billowed gently from the cool air flowing from the vent.

Watanuki leaned his head against the wall and allowed his eyes to shut. His eyes felt heavy and his muscles sore from carrying children around all day. He wasn't sure how long he sat that way but he must have fallen asleep. When Doumeki entered the sitting room the noise caused Watanuki to open his eyes and the angle of the sun looked a little different.

Haruka trailed along behind Doumeki and rubbed his eyes, clearly as tired as his sister. Doumeki pulled a floor pillow forward and patted it, gesturing for the boy to lay down. Haruka did not complain and swiftly fell asleep.

"Still no ideas?" Doumeki asked.

Watanuki blinked at the question. He must be really tired himself. Doumeki was already sitting down too and was leaning against the table. The shorter teenager must have started to drift off again. "Well, not much. I looked around on the internet and learned kids can enter preschool as young as three years old. Kimiko seems to be pretty smart, I'm sure we can fudge her age by a few months. There are some preschools with longer hours. They can be in school just as long as we are, then I can pick them up afterward and either take them with me to work at Yuuko-san's, or take a few more days off a week and go home."

"I can take them on the days I don't have archery right away, otherwise pick them up from Yuuko's after practice. The problem is they need birth certificates and social security numbers. They also need documentation for proof of having legal guardians."

Watanuki dropped his head. "I don't know how to get those. We're not old enough to adopt them, and even if we were legally old enough there's no way the government wouldn't find something suspicious about it. Two kids don't just appear one day without any history. Yuuko-san _might _grant a wish for that, but she'd probably enslave me for the rest of my life."

Doumeki looked at the girl sleeping in Watanuki's arms. She looked peaceful and quite content. Her coal black hair was thin with fly-away wisps, just like the person that was holding her. "There might be a way around that."

Watanuki looked up sharply, suddenly more awake. "What? How?"

Doumeki folded his hands on the table and braced for the imminent protest. "My mother should be able to help."

"..._What?_" Watanuk hissed sharply. "How are you going to explain... _this_... to her!" He gestured at the kids sleeping around them.

Doumeki rubbed his thumb along his right temple. "People drop children here at the shrine more often than you might think. Infants, toddlers, special needs individuals... they get abandoned here frequently. There are a lot of people that see local shrines and temples as safe places, just like hospitals, so they figure here is a better place to leave them than somewhere else."

Watanuki stared at Doumeki, mouth open in shock. "They just... abandon their family? How could they do that?"

Doumeki shrugged. "I don't pretend to know their reasons. Maybe some of the people don't have enough money to take care of a child. Maybe they were raped and got pregnant. Maybe they're not mentally capable of raising a child. What I do know is my mother is very good friends with the local government employees in the social services department because of all of this. If she presented two abandoned children and declared she wanted to adopt them, the people at the welfare office would do a cursory search for their real parents, be unable to find any and push the adoption papers through within a week."

That option sounded like an easy miracle, if they could convince his mother to do that. "And just how do you plan on explaining their existence to your mom? Does she even know about _half_ of the things we've done for Yuuko-san's insane missions?"

The taller teenager shrugged again. "She might. I've never said anything and she's never asked, but she always seems to know when something is amiss. My grandfather taught her a lot of what he knew. Whether she's seen any proof that the spirit realm is real I'm not sure. She might believe us."

"Or it might blow up in our faces. She might think I'm crazy and ban me from the shrine."

Doumeki doubted it would get that bad. "Grandfather could convince her, if he were here."

Hope sparked brightly in Watanuki's chest. "I could ask him! You think Haruka-san could visit her in a dream? I could ask him for help with your mom, if he's able to."

"That... might work," Doumeki conceded. "It's worth a try."

"I'll do my best to see him tonight when I sleep. If he can help, your mom needs to know about it as soon as she gets back tomorrow. I might even need to take Monday off if we can't get someone to watch them soon."

. . . . . . . .

Haruka and Kimiko were very confused when they realized Doumeki and Watanuki were not sleeping in the same bed together that night. Kimiko became very nervous and Haruka asked them if they were fighting. Watanuki didn't know how to explain to them that he and Doumeki weren't their real parents and he actually very much _disliked_ the other teenager and did not want to share a bed with him. Doumeki, of course, didn't try to change their minds at all about the way things should be done. He simply shoved his futon into the other room and up against the spare that had been pulled out for the kids. This left Kimiko and Haruka right in the middle of them while leaving each teenager with a full mattress and plenty of distance that Watanuki couldn't complain _too_ much about it.

"You're being surprisingly accommodating," Watanuki remarked.

"You've stopped saying you aren't 'Momma," Doumeki pointed out.

"Jerk." Watanuki pulled the covers up to his shoulders and closed his eyes.

Someone sniffed between them. "Don't fight," Kimiko pleaded sadly.

The muscles in his chest tightened painfully. "W-We're night fighting, Kimiko-chan," Watanuki rolled over and held her hand. "Don't worry. Just go to sleep."

Sharp yellow eyes stared at him. Watanuki didn't know why he suddenly felt so guilty under Doumeki's normally bored look.

. . . . . . . .

When Watanuki opened his eyes again he was sitting on the veranda of the Doumeki shrine. As usual during a dream, it was sunset and he could smell the sweet scent of a rolled cigarette being smoked.

"Haruka-san," Watanuki greeted. Doumeki's grandfather was sitting next to him as usual, wearing a kimono that was patterned with leaves. "Good evening."

"Good evening," Haruka smiled warmly. "It's a nice night tonight, don't you think?"

Watanuki looked up at the orange and purple sky. A bird flew off in the distance. "It is."

Haruka puffed on his cigarette and blew out the smoke. Lazy curls of gray swirled up into the air. "I understand I now have great grandchildren. I have to say they really do look just like you and my grandson."

Watanuki blushed and clasped his hands. "I'm so confused right now. I can't let them go, not after I know what happened to their real parents, but it's going to be really hard adjusting. I don't think I'll even be able to go to university now."

"You don't know that for sure," Haruka replied. "Things change quickly, as you've already seen. I think everything will work out."

"Haruka-san, I don't suppose you could help at all?"

Doumeki's grandfather pulled the cigarette away from his lips and looked at the teenager next to him. "Not for babysitting, I hope?"

"That would be impossible!" Watanuki blushed when Haruka chuckled. It really was too easy to get such a reaction out of him. "No, I mean, with Doumeki's mom? We need adoption papers, and Doumeki said his mom may need convincing to help us."

"Ah, yes, Kana-chan. Most people need a bit of proof about other worlds, she should not be much of an exception. I'll speak to her tonight, if I can. She is my daughter, after all, and shouldn't be too hard to convince."

Watanuki sighed with relief. "Thank you, Haruka-san. You're a life saver."

Haruka chuckled again. "Just ask her about her sixteenth birthday party. Tell my daughter her father wants to know if she still tastes mud pies when she's given a cake."

"O-Okay," Watanuki agreed. Clearly there was a whole story here he wasn't going to learn much about.

They were quiet for a little while as they stared at the sunset. The calm was welcome and the elder Haruka's presence was always reassuring."It's a shame what happened to their parents," the man said suddenly.

Watanuki jumped a little and turned his gaze to the other. "What happened to them? Did you see?"

"Briefly," he said. "It will take a while for those children to recover from it all. All of their memories revolve around fleeing from danger. Separation was equal to death for them, and their parents knew it. Kimiko was born right in the middle of it all and has never been in one location for longer than a week."

"That's awful!" Watanuki gasped. "No wonder she was so afraid of leaving again."

"Indeed," Haruka agreed. "That being said, you may even need to move into the temple. Your apartment is very small, and your daughter may end up needing the same protection you do."

"Haruka-san, what do you mean?"

Doumeki's grandfather pointed to something in the distance. "Another time, perhaps. Someone is trying to show you something very important."

Watanuki's eyes followed the direction that Haruka was pointing to. At first he saw nothing remarkable at all, just the darkening sky. A breath later and all went black.

. . . . . . . .

"We should leave this place tomorrow."

Doumeki Kimihiro looked up sharply at her husband, wearied frustration plain on her face. "We just got here this morning!" She protested. She set down the worn rag she'd been using the clean their dinner dishes.

"I know, but the emperor has been hiring better and better trackers. It was too close of a call the last place we were at. I don't want to stay here any longer than daybreak." Shizuka sat down against the wall of the bedroom his children were sleeping in. They were lucky to have walls tonight. The night before was spent on the road, and the night before that in a damp cave.

Kimihiro wondered where her young and handsome husband disappeared to as she looked upon him, for all that was left was an aging man with a worn face and sallow cheeks. He looked as spent as she felt, exhaustion distorting his complexion and causing his attitude to take a sour turn. She sat down next to him and rested her cheek against the armor on his chest. "How much longer can we go on like this?"

"As long as it takes."

As Kimihiro tried to hold back a yawn her shoulders shook. "As long as the emperor lives we will never be safe. Shizuka... soon enough we will pushed so far north even the tundra will disappear under a thick sheet of ice. We will run out of food and shelter within a month if we keep moving north, and we are out of places to run to in all other directions."

Shizuka tightened his arms around his wife, knowing the logic she stated but refusing to give up. "We'll find a way. There's a small temple a few miles from here. We can take shelter there tomorrow night and-"

"_No,_" Kimihiro protested vehemently, a horrific memory playing in her mind. "No, we can't, not after what the emperor's men did to the people of the last one we stayed at! Shizuka, they torched the whole building. Dozens of people were trapped inside and died!"

"Those that help us know the risks. They offered, you know that. They _want_ us to live."

"I don't care!" Kimihiro started to sob softly. She was so tired of leaving a trail of blood in their wake. It was a wonder her children weren't mad already.

Shizuka was an exorcist, a warrior priest that was supposed to take orders only from his liege lord and emperor. He was the very opposite of a seer, a spirit medium and the only living link between the human world and the world beyond.

As a seer, Kimihiro was expected to serve as well, and was expected to be chaste until a suitable male was selected for her to breed the gift into the next generation. Being the strongest seer of the modern age Kimihiro was coveted by every man in power. The emperor had wanted to keep her locked up in his palace and have her council him on her visions of the future. Should he request anything more personal as a service she was not allowed to refuse.

A seer and an exorcist were not supposed to ever mingle, never mind fall in love, but that was exactly what they did. Kimihiro rejected Shizuka's advances for many years, fearing the punishment of her emperor, but eventually she could deny her feelings no longer. They married each other, declared their union and defied the law. Seers were feared and often scorned for as long as man could remember, so it took little persuasion for the emperor to call out a witch hunt for Kimihiro and all like her after her and her husband's betrayal.

The witch hunt, however, caused a rebellion that was slowly and quietly starting to grow. No one realized just how many people with the ability to really See there were, and families had been torn apart. Doumeki Shizuka and Kimihiro had become the symbol of the rebellion that fought the impossible odds of a tyrant with a terrible army. So long as the emperor and his men never acquired their bodies and physical proof of their death hope would live that the rebellion could win.

Kimihiro did not care what others saw her as. She did not want anyone to die on her behalf. After over three years of running she only wished to live the remainder of her days with her family, far away in a small cottage in the country. Such peace sounded like heaven.

"I'm sorry, don't think about it," Shizuka consoled. He took one of her wrists between his thumb and fingers and gently rubbed the skin over her veins. He pressed a kiss against the palm of her hand. "You should rest. We'll worry about tomorrow in a little while."

Kimihiro sighed deeply and tried to calm her frayed nerves. "_You_ should rest. When was the last time you slept all night long?"

Shizuka shrugged. "Two years? Longer? I've forgotten."

Kimihiro fingered at the pendant that hung around her husband's neck. "You'll keep your promise to me, won't you?"

Shizuka frowned down at the pendant, a constant reminder at his potential failure to protect his family. "It won't come to that."

"Shizuka, tell me, you _will _keep your promise?" Her gaunt fingers squeezed around the jewelry tightly and looked up at him, demanding the answer she sought.

She had told him a few months ago that he needed to wear it always. Should all else fail, should she die and he be at death's door that pendant was the last resort to keep their children alive. "I promise," he said to his wife. "I will keep our son and daughter alive."

The woman sighed, too tired to think any more on it. Her worst nightmare was emperor Fei Wong getting a hold of them and doing unspeakable things to her children. Their very existence was a stain on his reputation and the man had made it clear he would stop at nothing to get to them.

"Go to sleep," Shizuka urged his wife again.

Kimihiro yawned deeply. "You should come, too."

The priest shook his head no ruefully. "I'll rest, but not sleep."

Together they stood and entered the room with their children quietly, both to not wake them and to not draw any extra attention from anyone that might be passing by in the middle of the night.

. . . . . . . .

Shizuka woke up with a start when he heard a sharp noise. It sounded like sticks outside the thin walls of their shelter were being stepped upon and breaking.

Adrenaline sang through his blood, the feeling of it so normal he barely registered it anymore. He got up quickly and quietly and moved to his sleeping wife. Thankfully, after all these years of constant alarm she was nearly as light of a sleeper as he was. She rolled over and looked up at him in concern. Shizuka moved a finger to his lips in a motion to be quiet.

Kimihiro nodded and rolled onto her knees. She drew the short sword that was strapped to her waist and sat close to her children, poised to strike.

Shizuka spared a moment to mourn over the loss of her pretty court dresses and sparkling jewelry. His wife had been wearing breaches and tunics like any man for the mere practicality the clothing offered. He drew his sword and slowly made his way out of the room and to the front door of the shelter.

It was very dark outside, the moon was new and black in the sky. As the shelter lacked a front door the priest had no trouble creeping outside and peering for trouble.

There was a bright amber light and a noise that went _thwunk! _Shizuka looked up and knew fear yet again as he saw the top of the shack alight with a flaming arrows.

They'd been found.

He bellowed a battle cry and drew the second blade at his hip. Moments later dozens of the emperor's men surrounded him and charged.

Shizuka was swift and merciless as he cut down the attackers. Blood splattered the ground in thick and sticky puddles as man after man was cut down, dismembered and beheaded. Once upon a time this much blood made him ill. Now he barely noticed.

A stray blade sliced along his chest. Shizuka stumbled back from it and fell to his knees as the pommel of a sword was hit smartly against his head. Not wanting to be overwhelmed he swept his swords out in an arc around him as his head rang and heard two more men fall down. It gave him enough time to regain his feet and parry another blade.

A cry from inside the shelter. The fire was spreading and the blood in Shizuka's veins turned to ice. After cutting down the last man he sped inside and slammed open the door to the room his family was in.

Kimihiro was clutching a sword that had pierced just below her shoulder. The emperor's soldier had a hand wrapped around her neck and was squeezing. Two more men were dead around her and his son and daughter were sobbing and holding each other in the far corner.

Shizuka dug his long sword in the man's back and twisted it brutally in place. The soldier gurgled in pain for only a moment before the priest's other sword cut his head clean from his shoulders.

"Shizuka!" Kimihiro gasped in pain. She crumbled to the ground once the soldier was no longer strangling her.

"No, no, Kimihiro!" He fell to his knees and leaned over her, careful of the sword still sticking out of her chest. "You'll be fine, you will! Just let me get this sword out, you'll be fine!"

Kimihiro coughed and the sound was not like a normal cough at all. Blood leaked down her chin. "Shizuka... my husband..." She shook her head. "It..." She coughed again and Shizuka felt his world crashing down around him. "It pierced my lung... just nicked my heart... I won't..."

"No!" Shizuka protested. He held her face in his large and weathered hands and wiped the blood splatters away from her pale cheeks. "You can't..."

"I love you." She looked at him urgently. "Keep your promise to me, Doumeki Shizuka. You must..." She coughed violently and blood splattered everywhere. It covered the man's face and decorated the front of his wife's dirty shirt. "Keep them _alive!"_

He nodded, too numb to do otherwise. "I will."

Blue eyes faded away to milky orbs of nothingness. Doumeki Kimihiro was finally dead.

Like a wild animal clawing at its cage to be free, a scream tore itself out of Shizuka's throat and demanded to be heard. His eyes squeezed closed and his arms pulled the body of his dead wife up and into his arms, the rest of him unable to do otherwise. He cried, holding her body close and unable to believe this was how it would end.

"Dadda! Dadda!"

Two children sobbed miserably next to him. They'd never seen their father like this, raw emotions and straining muscles. They'd never seen their mother so still and the blood was still pooling around their small bodies and inching closer and closer.

Shizuka chocked back the rest of his despair and gently set Kimihiro down. He moved to his children and wrapped them up in his arms. "Be calm," he said to them. He still had a promise to keep and he could not fail them, too.

To each child's forehead he pushed his thumbs against their skin and said with power: "_Sleep."_

Dark lines of characters glistened in their skin before disappearing completely. The children were asleep before they'd even been tucked into their father's arms and hefted up.

Before completely leaving the shelter Shizuka pushed one hand against the dry wood wall and whispered _fire, _and right at the spot his hand was flames danced out and licked up the sides of the cracked lumber.

Bodies were proof, and proof was what the emperor needed to quell his rebellion. With Kimihiro's body nothing more than ash and dust she would become a martyr.

With one last regretful stare at his wife's burial place Shizuka ran into the forest and away from the fire. After a while he came upon a clearing that he felt would suit his purposes quite well. He was high enough on the hillside to see the smoke of torches as more of the emperor's men made their way up to him. He leaned his daughter against his chest as he sat on his knees and pulled the pendant from around his neck. Kimihiro had told him that, should he need to use it, the item would need to be broken for its magic to be released.

He should have enough time, once the children were taken care of he would set one final trap for the men after him. He broke the golden butterfly pendant and held his children close as the magic coalesced around him and sucked him up and away.

. . . . . . . .

When he landed back in the clearing Shizuka took a deep breath and cleared his mind of all concern. This would be his last act of rebellion against Fei Wong, and he wanted it to count. It was comforting to know that his precious children would be taken care of by someone that bore his wife's name. Kimihiro had said things before about other worlds, filled with the same people but vastly different circumstances. While he would forever miss them he knew that they would live, they would never know the terror of the emperor, and he could die in peace.

He was quick to set his trap. He'd been storing random objects in a hidden cache magic created for him, large and sharp and deadly and plenty of rope as well. It was only big enough for this trap, but he'd used it before to much success.

By the time he was done the pounding of footsteps could be heard climbing the hillside. Shizuka drew his swords and made his final stand in the clearing.

The soldiers must not have been expecting to see him because they looked panicked for a good few seconds before someone realized they were supposed to kill him.

He was outnumbered, but that was fine. Judging by the contingent that was around him one of the generals must be afoot.

The dance of death was aptly named. There were certain steps he had to follow, dips and sweeps and tense muscles as blood flowed like a river. He had danced this very dance many times already.

He was tired, though, and hadn't had a decent meal or rest in years. It was not long before a sword sliced at his left arm and he dropped his second weapon. A few steps later and a knee cap was blown.

It took thirty men to bring him to his knees.

The sharp edge of blade pressed against his neck and Shizuka prepared for his death. A sharp call from someone and stopped it.

"Well, well, what have we here? Doumeki Shizuka. I never expected to see you alone out here without your whore wife as well."

Shizuka panted heavily. His head was roughly jerked up by a fist in his hair to stare up at the man that addressed him. "General Rondart. I can see your nose is still brown with the emperor's shit."

As expected the soldier holding him became rough and pulled at his scalp.

The general ignored the insult. "So tell me, where is your wife? Burning in that run down little shack? Hidden somewhere? I can't imagine you had time to bury her, not that it would hide her from us. Emperor Fei Wong will have her body."

"She's little more than ash now," Shizuka said with relief. "Ash is not proof."

Rondart snarled and grabbed a bow and arrow from a soldier next to him. "Where are your brat children, Doumeki!" He positioned the arrow at a point blank range in the middle of Shizuka's right eye.

Shizuka laughed with triumph. "They are somewhere, so far away from here you can never reach them. Your fool emperor will never have his victory."

"Break his arm!" The general ordered.

Someone struck his left arm with a blunt object. Shizuka cried out as he felt the bone break. Once the immediate pain passed he laughed again, louder this time. "They will live, and you will never find them!"

They broke his other arm next, then all of his fingers. When Shizuka was not gasping and yelling in agony he kept laughing. It did not matter what they did to him, his children were alive and Kimihiro was waiting for him.

The general grew bored of the routine. He raised his arrow again and snarled. "You'll die, you filthy priest! Your body is enough for now! Even if your wife is a martyr for now with your body the emperor will win!"

Yellow eyes stared blankly as they looked down the shaft of the arrow. "You will always lose, Rondart. Even in my death you will always lose."

The general loosed his arrow and felt satisfaction as it buried itself in Shizuka's head. The priest fell backward, dead before he hit the ground.

The leaves along the ground sprang up in surprise as something was triggered over the spot the priest fell. Ropes that had been previously hidden unwrapped from the large oak tree that was above them. By the time the general looked up it was too late to stop the trap.

A large apparatus of metal and steel swung down behind him and up, piercing his chest and lifting him up from the ground. Gore poured out of his chest, pieces of his heart stuck to the metal. His mouth was open in a picture of surprise.

It was quite convenient General Rondart made this expedition tonight. He was Fei Wong's right hand man, and with him dead the rebellion would have more steam than ever before. It was a worthy death for Doumeki Shizuka.

. . . . . . . .

Watanuki was screaming well before he was awake. He blinked and cried and every time his eyes closed all he saw was blood. He may have kept saying _Oh god, oh god, oh God!_ He felt sick to his stomach and needed to rush immediately to the rest room.

Doumeki's heart pounded wildly in his chest at the initial scream. He tried to get up and go to the teenager's side but Watanuki was up and running down the hall with a hand over his mouth before he could get to the other side of the futons.

Haruka and Kimiko were wide awake, alarmed and frightened. Kimiko in particular cried big crocodile tears in the middle of the bed. "Dadda," the girl sobbed. "What's wrong with Momma?"

Doumeki didn't know, but he intended to find out. He leaned over the girl and put his hand on her shoulder. "Everything will be fine. I'll go check on him. Stay put, all right?"

"But Dadda!"

Doumeki looked to Haruka, who was quiet but clearly worried. "Watch over your sister. I'll be right back." The boy nodded. "I'm counting on you."

Haruka put his small hands on his sister's shoulders and started talking to her, telling her to calm down and be strong like Dadda. That was enough reassurance for Doumeki for him to get up and run after his peer.

Watanuki was in the bathroom and heaving over the toilet. His face was streaked and wet with tears. Doumeki kneeled next to him and held him by the shoulders. "What happened?"

Watanuki cried as he'd never seen before. "It was awful!" The boy shook. He dabbed toilet paper at his mouth and tembled, close to throwing up again. "I've never seen so much blood! Oh, god the images won't leave my head!"

Doumeki's hold became tighter and tried to support him. "Was it a dream?"

"I saw how they died!" Watanuki bawled. "Kimiko and Haruka saw it, too! They saw their mother get stabbed, they saw her bleed all over everything! They saw people beheaded! Oh, god!" He leaned away from the toilet and into Doumeki's arms and shivered.

"Tell me," Doumeki said.

"I can't," Watanuki creaked. "I don't think I can!"

"You need to get it out, share it with someone. You'll feel better," Doumeki told him.

Watanuki hiccuped, and the action reminded Doumeki of Kimiko earlier that day when she begged to not leave.

It took Watanuki a few minutes to compose himself before he could even start with that terrible dream.


End file.
